Star profile
Delta Circinus
Variable starWhat is Delta Circinus
Delta Circini is an extraordinarily massive hierarchical triple system of very hot O- and B-type stars, some 2,300 light-years away. At its core, two giants —an O8 just starting to evolve and an O9.5 main-sequence star— eclipse each other every 3.9 days, deformed by mutual gravity into ellipsoidal shapes. A third B0.5 star orbits them on a long eccentric path of about 1,603 days: a brutal mechanism hidden inside the modest southern Compass.
Where it is and when to see it
Delta Circinus lies in the southern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is May: the Sun sits at the opposite point of the sky and the star culminates around midnight. How high it climbs above the horizon depends on the latitude you watch from.
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The signature wall
Stelvia's sky works like a signature wall: anyone can leave their name and a message on a real star, and that signature goes up on the map for everyone to read. Signing is free.
A signature without a lock can be replaced by someone else's. The lock makes the signature permanent and lets you choose a symbolic name for the star, always shown next to the star's catalogue identifier. How the lock works
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A public signature from a real person. The chosen name is a symbolic denomination within Stelvia, with no official standing or IAU recognition: the sky is not for sale and belongs to no one.
Astronomical data for Delta Circinus
- Constellation
- Circinus
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.04
- Distance
- 326200.0 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 229.237° · Dec -60.957°
- Catalogue
- HIP 74778 · HD 135240
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Circinus
Circinus has 21 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- Alpha Circinus3.18
- Beta Circinus4.07
- Gamma Circinus4.48
- Epsilon Circinus4.85
- Theta Circinus5.08
- Eta Circinus5.16
- HIP 730365.18
- HIP 721315.36